The present disclosure relates to a light reference system for measurement use with rail vehicles such as track correction equipment.
Railroads are typically constructed to include a pair of elongated, substantially parallel rails, which are coupled to a plurality of laterally extending ties. The ties are disposed on a ballast bed of hard particulate material such as gravel. Over time, normal wear and tear on the railroad may cause the rails to deviate from a desired geometric orientation.
Rail maintenance processes for addressing such concerns may include lifting rail panel with mechanical clamps, aligning the track by shifting it to a calculated position, and then tamping the ballast under each tie to hold the track in place. This work sequence may be repeated at each tie during the course of the correction process.
Conventional rail correction equipment includes a buggy vehicle tethered to a front end of a maintenance machine. The buggy vehicle may be a first reference point, while points near the workheads and the rear of the machine on corrected track provide additional reference points. The reference points are interconnected with steel wires that are tensioned between the first reference point (buggy vehicle) and the reference point at the corrected track. The vertical height between the tensioned wire and the reference point near the workheads is measured to calculate the track adjustment needed at that point. This approach is cumbersome requiring the tensioning of wires, and is subject to various mechanical issues such as wire tension, sag, and friction as well as the safety concern of having long tensioned wires in the work area. Therefore, an improved reference system is desired.